By Joe Sager

New Castle News

Last year, the end zone seemed a foreign place to the Neshannock High football team.

The squad’s offense fizzled and it scored only 105 points in nine games.

You may consider the end zone to be “Lancers Land” this year. They’ve piled up 13 touchdowns and 90 total points in their first two games. John Conglose leads the way with five TDs, including a pair last week in a 35-14 win at Laurel.

The performance earned him Lawrence County Athlete of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.

“Last year, we struggled putting up points. This year, it’s a big difference; it’s a big change in the offense,” Conglose said. “The coaches have done a good job incorporating the spread (offense). We have a lot of weapons. It works to our advantage to be able to spread the ball around, let everybody get touches and use the speed to our advantage.”

First-year head coach Fred Mozzocio scrapped the team’s run-first approach from years past and replaced it with a spread approach with an emphasis on passing.

“It’s fun. When you’re at the Pop Warner or the junior high level, it gets a little bland to pitch right or pitch left. Here, everybody has a chance to touch the ball,” he said. “It’s exciting for the kids. It’s a high-tempo thing and they want to do it every day, even in the summertime. It’s fun for them to come out. It’s almost like you’re playing fast-break basketball.”

Neshannock raced to a 2-0 start in the Big Seven Conference. Conglose has been a big factor in the team’s success. Last year, he led the team in rushing, but was moved to receiver this season, and 2-0 overall. He has five catches for 59 yards and five scores. He’s a threat on special teams, too, as he returned the opening kickoff for a 94-yard TD against the Spartans.

“It was a great feeling. Waiting in the locker room for an hour-and-a-half with the lightning delay, it was nice to come out and make a statement,” Conglose said. “That’s definitely a big win. Laurel is always tough. They have tough kids. Not playing them since I was a freshman, it was nice having that rivalry again. It was always a big game. It was great to come out with a win.”

Conglose isn’t the only Lancers player doing damage. Quarterback Ernie Burkes is hurting teams with his arm and legs, while Alex Welker leads the team in receiving and sophomore Eli Owens has racked up 262 rushing yards so far.

“With John’s speed and quickness, he’s been a great fit for the offense, along with Alex Welker, Ernie Burkes and the Owens brothers (Eli and Kienan),” Mozzocio said. “Mike Sanfilippo is injured and he hasn’t been able to show what he can do. We have a lot of weapons, so we try to spread it out and let them run with it.

“The nicest thing so far is that if it’s John scoring and John catching, that’s great. Everybody’s happy,” he continued. “If it’s Alex Welker or Ernie Burkes or Eli Owens, no matter who it is, they all support each other. When they don’t have the ball, they’re all working hard to block for each other or carry out the fakes and do things like that. That’s been a great thing to see with these young men.”

The Lancers hope to keep it going this week against powerhouse Sto-Rox (2-0, 2-0).

“Sto-Rox always has great athletes. We’re looking to use our speed against them and see what we can do and compete with them,” Conglose said. “We have the right mindset coming into each game. It’s great coming out 2-0. We’re not done yet. We’re looking to make the playoffs. We’re trying our best. We had big expectations coming into the season, so we’re going to keep working.”

*****

THE JOHN CONGLOSE FILE

POSITION: Wide receiver/Defensive back

TEAM: Neshannock

GRADE: 12

KNOWN FOR: Conglose scored two touchdowns to help Neshannock beat Laurel, 35-14. He returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a score.

PARENTS: Mike and Joan Conglose.

FAVORITE PRO PLAYER AND WHY: Troy Polamalu. “Some of the amazing plays he makes; he’s just a great athlete. He’s amazing.”

FAVORITE PRO TEAM AND WHY: Pittsburgh Steelers. “I grew up in a Steelers family. My dad was always a big fan, so I grew into it.”

FUTURE PLANS: Conglose hopes to continue his athletic and academic careers. “I’d like to see if I can maybe play football, maybe play baseball. I’ve been looking at schools. I’d like to go into physical therapy.”